Friday, August 31, 2012

NYC Hawkwatchers believe that the last of Pale Male and Zena's 2012
fledglings still in Central Park, Opera Star, may be dead due to being
sprayed with pesticides. (Or by secondary rat poison as he has disappeared after showing the classic symptoms of poisoning and his body has not been found or a necropsy done. DB 4/7/2012)
I watched for
years before any of the known hawks were made ill or died due to human
activity. Now it's become heartbreakingly constant.

Opera Star, who was very similar to his father in activity and dash, appeared to be doing amazingly well in avoiding secondary rat poisoning so far. Now he may be dead because of people's inability to deal with a mosquito bite now and again and the advertizing of exterminators.

Poison is poison, and it isn't good for us, our children, or who knows how many other birds and assorted wildlife who will have died anonymously due to the spraying campaign.

This photograph is a prime example of the difference in the profile between the male hawk, left, Pale Male and the female, right, who is yet to be named.

Look at the difference between the eye to tip of beak ratio, length and angle combined with the shape of the brow.

Both hawks are in molt, hence the somewhat disheveled look of their feathers. Note in the top photograph the tail feather which is only half grown in on the female's tail.

Interestingly the late hawkwatcher Jeff Johnson, on August 14th, saw a female Red-tailed Hawk that he believed to be Zena. This bird attracted Jeff's attention initially because she was having a difficult time flying, missed her perch, and fell to another limb.

Whether this was Zena or not, it appears from my take that this bird was ill or poisoned. A healthy Red-tail doesn't flop about in the manner Jeff described.

Another oddity was that, if the female was Zena, she was seen near a Red-tail who was not Pale Male, below.(Both had red tails.)

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

May Jeffrey Johnson's spirit be lifted on the wings of birds and carried softly with good grace into the Light.

LOOKING FOR ZENA, AUGUST 12, SUNDAYPhotos and commentary in italics by Jeffrey JohnsonUn-italicized commentary is mine.

Donegal,

Striking into the Park from 85th and 5th Avenue I went
directly to CPW and checked the Beresford towers and the 241 Building
looking for Red-tails with no joy. Metadata time 1801.

Going across The Great Lawn I cane upon Pale Male surrounded by admirers
just to the west of Cleopatra's Needle. Metadata time 1818.

Pale Male having dinner near Cleopatra's Needle. Metadata time 1819.

Pale Male close. Metadata time 1820.

Pale Male pauses in a ray of late day sunlight. Metadata time 1823.

Keep in mind that Pale is currently awash with people on the ground looking at him. But being the original human habituated urban Red-tailed Hawk he isn't the least bothered and in fact is going about his Red-tail business completely unfazed by the attention.

In fact he often hunts quite successfully in full view of the crowd. The prey in Central Park rather tends toward the human habituated themselves or they wouldn't make much of a living.

Pale Male tree scene from the NNW. Metadata time 1825.

Pale Male lustily enjoying his catch. Metadata time 1829.

Pale Male launching to the NW. Metadata time 1832.

Pale Male briefly lands in a tree to the NW. Metadata time 1833.

Pale Male flew to an adjacent tree and moments later dove off to the NE. Metadata time 1835.

Had to depart scene without seeing Zena again.

Jeff

Thus ends Jeff's observations for August 12th with a look of the end of Pale Male's tail feathers.

Opera Star's six showing as he heads east. Metadata time 1822.(? D.B.)

Now going ENE. Metadata time 1822.

Finds a London Plane to hs liking south of Glade Arch. Metadata time 1823.

It's easy to see why he favors London Planes. It's almost beyond belief that he camouflages so easily. Metadata time 1824.

Glade Arch scene. Metadata time 1824.

He seems very interested in the cavity he's perched over. Metadata time 1831.

Then his attention wanes and he bullets down to a bench outside the
Playground by 77th Street and 5th Avenue. Metadata time 1837.

Playground scene as he overflies the kids splashing in the fountain. Metadata time 1840.

Takes some time to human watch. Metadata time 1840.

Opera Star watching kid at play in the fountain pool. Metadata time 1841.

In the blink of an eye Opera Star plummets from is perch into the brush
on the let side of the Playground entrance and then hops up onto the
railing with a mouse in his beak. Metadata time 1844.

Secures his catch in a talon. Metadata time 1844.

Proud moment. Metadata time 1845.

Takes his catch up into a nearby tree to the SW Metadata time 1851.

Opera Star having his hard won meal. . Metadata time 1853.

Or maybe not. we just saw that he had a mouse and looked to be eating,
but here he is with no crop bulge whatsoever. did he decide to cache his
meal for later ? Metadata time 1855.

Flies up onto the south railing of the Playground. Metadata time 1856.

Scoping out the bushes below the Playground's south railing. Metadata time 1858.

Many in the Playground are uninterested in this magnificent creature.
This is an unfair statement on my part, the children being looked after
in the Playground are the primary and legitimate concern of those
seemingly uninterested people. Metadata time 1858.

Opera Star's interest is piqued by something in the bushes. Metadata time 1906.

I had to depart scene but Opera Star was still in pursuit of more
prey and pounced into the brush below the railing in this frame as I was
leaving. No joy about seeing Zena.

Jeff

The observations of the following day, "Looking for Zena 18 Aug Saturday", has already been published.

Also published was a photo of a Red-tail who he thought might be Zena which referred back to the day's observations below, titled...

Looking for Zena 14 Aug Tuesday (Who Are These Red-tails ?

Which has not been published. It will appear next. It includes 61 photographs disconnected from their captions. It will take some time to collate and as it is 5:20 AM it cannot be done until I've slept.

Why were these observations never published you ask?

As some of you may remember my internet connection was down for two weeks and I was ill besides. When the technology became available again, I made the decision to post Jeff's more current observations while attempting to catch up on the previous ones that he had submitted earlier. This had not been completed at the time of his death.

In an attempt to possibly find some sort of order in the events of his last days, a glimpse of his thinking, or telling changes from his previous work, I have decided to publish his Central Park Red-tailed hawk observations posthumously.

The chronology is important as there were at least two occasions in which Jeff wrote he would not be able to follow the hawks after a certain specified date. After I'd reiterated to him how many people enjoyed his work, and asked why he wouldn't be continuing, he didn't explain why he was moving on, but the deadlines passed and he continued to watch the New York City Hawks.